Bagotstown

Photos by Joanna Dhanraj

Bagotstown is a thriving village, though a few of its residents consider it to be one of the smallest on the East Bank Demerara. Many of the villagers in this well-populated, multi-cultural community migrated to it from various parts of Guyana.

Douglas Braithwaite happily tended to an ongoing flow of customers engaging in small talk with them. A native of the village, he was born before the construction of the Demerara Harbour Bridge, situated a stone’s throw away from him.

“Before the Harbour Bridge, Bagotstown was a quiet village. The bridge was [under construction] when I was a teenager. At the time I was attending Central High then I finished and left to join the National Service. When I return I was employed with the Harbour Bridge from 1977 to 2004; I worked most of my life with the bridge company,” Braithwaite said. ….